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children's ministry children's ministry cartoons K! Magazine Kidzmatter Magazine Magazine

Activities, Coloring Pages, and Faith

When I created this cartoon, I was poking fun at myself and the work I was doing. For about ten years, I had the privilege to create activity and coloring books for a publisher. I loved doing it and miss it even today.

I have spent scores of hours making activities, coloring pages and books. I have also spent a lot of time in classrooms relying on activity pages for kids. I have even posted some of my creations on this blog and they continue to get traffic because Sunday school teachers are always needing a resource, especially when they have kids to teach and entertain.

Have I ever heard of a child coming to salvation through a word search or a maze? No, and I suppose we would be hard-pressed to find such stories, though anything is possible. See Luke 1:37.

Yet, I may never know how an activity pages may have helped reinforce a Bible story that may contribute to a future decision. Perhaps it is a bit of seed-sowing that will produce a harvest later.

At any rate, if I do more activity pages in the future, I know they may not the crucial puzzle piece to a testimony. I’ll walk a fine line between not being too serious about the endeavor and yet know it could be one tiny puzzle piece in a big picture.

Do you have any stories of activity pages or books that benefited you as a teacher or student? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Cartoon of a Sunday school teacher and a boy. The boy is coloring. He says, "How will my faith be enhanced by this coloring page?"
Previously printed in K: Kidzmatter Magazine
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children's ministry children's ministry cartoons Christianity Christianity Religion Cartoons

The Mysterious Span of Time

It’s hard for kids to experience how long the span of time really is. To them, history is anything that happened before they were born. And it is true, isn’t it? It’s just that they have a hard time imagining an older person’s history wasn’t in the time of Bible stories or dinosaurs. To them, the Gettysburg Address and the fall of the Roman Empire all happened in that little span of time we call history.

I remember my Mom saying, “Just you wait! One minute you’re ten years old. The next minute you’re thirty-five.” Of course I didn’t believe her. Now I am older than she was at the time. Yes, you blink and time speeds by. But that doesn’t mean I lived during the time of Shakespeare. He wasn’t a cousin and we didn’t hang out together.

Time happens fast, and it drags on. I remember wondering if I would ever make it out of second grade. It must have been quite a boring year for me. I am happy to announce I made it through and then some. And so did my kids. Where did all the time go?

Time is an enigma. Embrace it and make the best use of it. Yes, you can tell them you lived at a time before smartphones. And you can patiently tell them cars and electricity was invented way before you were born.

Do you have any stories of kids having humorous issues with the span of time? Leave a comment and let us know?

Cartoon of a boy and a grumpy, old man. The man says, "Yes, I know Jesus. No, I wasn't there when he began his ministry."
Previously Published in “Kidzmatter Magazine.”
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children's ministry

Why I am in Children’s Ministry: A Video Interview

This is a bittersweet time for me. My church has a monthly video about volunteers who serve in children’s and youth ministry. They interviewed me about my role in children’s ministry. Here’s the video:

Within the video, I explain the strange story of The Yellow Kevins. Thanks to the wit of a kindergartner and fourth-grader, I got to draw a jaundice version of myself.

I also explain what has kept me going in children’s ministry for over twenty-five years. I have loved working with the kids. But I found the bigger reason in a passage found in Psalm 78.

It is a bittersweet moment because my wife will be exiting Salemkids, the children’s ministry, at our church, to pursue what God is calling her to next. It is an exciting, scary and meaningful journey all wrapped up. We’ll see what the next chapter holds.

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children's ministry Christmas holiday

Generosity at Christmas

There’s no cartoon this morning. As this post comes out, I am getting ready for our church elementary large group. We’ll be talking about generosity. You may say, “But wait! It’s Christmas! Why are you talking about generosity?”

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children's ministry children's ministry cartoons

A Clean, Janitor-Free Dream

Cartoon of two women having coffee. One says, "I have a dream. One day, our children's ministry will skip a whole day without calling for janitor backup."
Copyright ©2017 Kevin Spear & Kidzmatter Magazine

True story: I was a church janitor once. Actually, I was a teen church janitor for over two years. When your grandfather is the pastor and your father is the Maintenance Supervisor you get those kinds of perks. I have maintenance supervisor in italics because it was a small church, Dad was a volunteer and he had the job because no one else was available on a Saturday morning and Grandpa trusted him with the keys. (My brother and I must be the only church janitors in modern history that never had an impressive set of keys.)